Cyclone Marcia Hits Us!

恭喜发财 to everyone!

Such joyous season, while many are still happily celebrating Lunar New Year, things have not been too fortunate for us in Central Queensland.

Cyclone Marcia hit us on last Friday leaving 50,000 households powerless for over 72 hours now (and still is powerless as we speak now).

I initially did not expect the cyclone aftermath would be this severe. Obviously I was very wrong.

Check out the video I took while Cyclone Marcia peaked at 12:30pm.

The cyclone was Category 5 (most severe) when it made its landfall in the coastal city at 10am, then was downgraded to Category 3 by the time it hit us at midday.

Still, the wind speed of 125km/hr was strong enough to rip the roofs off many buildings.

Can you see those metal scraps in the video? That was dangerous!

Luckily no one was hurt, but these poor trees couldn't escape the deadly fate, unfortunately.

According to the locals, this is the worst cyclone the city has suffered in the past 25 years.

The worst part is - the city was left powerless for days (might even be weeks) as some major power lines and sub-transmission were damaged by the natural disaster. 

Inevitably, when there is no power, there will be no light, no water (due to water treatment plant failure), no fridge (means foods are wasted), no air-cond, no fuel (service station pumps in-operational), no telecommunication (no fax, no internet, no mobile phone charges) etc etc etc.

Yes, the aftermath is indeed more chaotic than the cyclone itself.

Hopefully power will be restored soon. We are very fortunate to be one of the very few households to get to enjoy the first hand luxury of having electricity and water at home.

I am very grateful that none of my friends and family was harmed during the cyclone.

Will keep you guys updated when things get better soon!

Take care all ^-^

Love, Mia

夕阳无限好

只是暗得早⋯⋯

之前冬季工还没放天就先OO了，难得现在日长夜短，跑步之时还来得及欣赏夕阳的无限美 ^^

Erratic Leap

Blimey!

This must be the second or third time we espied the marsupials leaping into the path of traffic again. 

It is always just on dusk when the bunch come out for food and water, so it can be quite disastrous if we happen to drive fast! 

One big hit might send my poor old beetle flying off the road (don't forget we were in it too!)

Luckily we were travelling slow... or else......

有鹤到访

在我们这里，飞禽走兽的突然出现，就犹如平日里看到乌鸦一般，早已司空见惯。

只是我这个村姑大惊小怪，就⋯⋯ 什么都想拍就是了。

休假一日

星期三早上，醒来的时候突然有种莫名其妙的快乐感，可能是自己不用上班，男人也跟着旷工ing，起床的时候不用像平日那样赶东赶西的，不用争厕所，也不用塞车上班，都好一阵子没有享受过那么舒心无忧的假日了，哪怕是一整天宅在家里上网也是不错的选择。不过难得外面天气明朗，阳光又那么灿烂，我们俩又怎能只待在家里不出去好好享受西式早餐呢？

因为平常都没有吃早餐的习惯，一下子吃了那么大份的西餐，不去公园消耗一下热量又怎么行呢？吃得那么饱，挺着大肚腩想说跑步是不可能了，散散步看看树倒还差不多。星期三的公园因为观光人数不多，因此显得公园特别宁静舒服。我不晓得这个公园有多少年历史了，不过看样子应该蛮老了，公园里几乎每一棵树都很高大很粗壮，棵棵看来至少年过两百了吧？

哈比人与大树的惊人对比！有没有像魔戒电影里的树人啊？

不管我再怎么弯身下腰，即使趴在地上镜头都还是捕不了大树的全身。

公园里的大树一棵比一棵壮，一棵比一棵猛，吓得我们目瞪口呆！

那么茂盛的公园也自然吸引住上百只鸟儿来做窝，一路上都听得见小鸟悦耳的鸣叫声。

尤其是这棵开得花儿满满的大树，枝头上不知道坐着有几十只小鸟啊？

这是什么树？！怎么会开满了番薯啊？

更何况番薯家族都不是生长在泥土里的吗？

拍这照片的时候难免会害怕被番薯砸到头。

我们一边步行着，男人一边给我采了不少花，哈比人真贴心 ♡

公园散步后，我们又驾驶40公里到另一座城市的海边散步，也顺便到那里著名的西饼屋买苹果派，超好吃的！没拍到照片好可惜，如果天天都可以像星期三那样轻松写意那该多好呢？

八月终于结束了，春天也正式来临了，希望你有个美好的九月份。

在此也祝我亲爱的马来西亚同胞国庆节快乐！ 

Late Winter

As Spring approaches, more colours are showing at the park.
This visually pleasing landscape is very close to our home - Little Leaf.

Sadly I have only started to appreciate trees at this age, while most children in the European countries are exposed to the nature at a lot younger age and they grow up learning a lot from the nature too. 

Growing up in a city with towering apartment blocks and man-made gardens, it has never come across my mind how vast the world is beyond these concrete walls! I hope it is not too late for me to learn now. Fortunately I have a walking encyclopaedia at home who can teach me about native trees and wild flowers =)

This is the beauty of late Winter-early Spring in Queensland.

I don't know what sort of species this tree belongs to. They are not jacaranda or flame trees.

Hmmm... will have to look it up from the internet soon.

These red clusters are actually not flowers...

The leaves are still in the middle of transiting from green to red.

Queensland may have a great weather - sunshine throughout the year - but she has never been popular with idyllic countryside. Although this landscape is nothing to compare with what Japan or the UK could offer, I am still glad I have seen some of the most beautiful part of where I live =)

I realised the nature helps to relax my mind after a long stressful day at work.

I hope these pictures bring a smile to your face too!

Have a wonderful day ^______^

Winter Flowers

We are in mid July now - winter has fairly set in and the mornings are still chilly (between 9~11 degree at 7:30am for the last fortnight). Although there is no sign of frost in the Queensland winter, some trees are blooming with pink flowers (or leaves?)

Looks like spring is not far ahead? I can't wait!

Fall is Gone; Winter is Here

Just a picture to remind myself of how beautiful these native plants were in the late autumn...

Still feel like yesterday, the mauve flower spikes will soon disappear when the winter takes over...

I have started to bring out jumpers and duvet to welcome the early winter arrival though heater is not yet needed at this stage. Last night was really cold. In the middle of the night, I was glad that someone's feet were keeping mine warm... ♥♥♥

PS: The greatest part of living on the outskirts is to able to observe how nature changes with the season; and how the wild lives adjust to this change.

Cherish the greenery while we can. Goodbye autumn!

Driving after Dark

Driving after dark in Malaysia you have to constantly watch out for robbers but driving in Australia you have got to be really careful with these guys...... 

Some of them are of a fair size I am glad that the mob did not hop in the middle of the road as we drove past them ^^

Welcome Autumn

March feels so special to me because it marks the end of scorching summer~
And it feels nice to know that my birthday is just around the corner... ^_^

Welcome Autumn...!

Autumn creek in a country town...!

Home Grown Tomatoes

I have grown quite a few different varieties of tomatoes since three years ago and none of them lasted long at all. With this new species (botanical name: lycopersicum esculentum) that I am growing at the moment, the produce seems quite promising and healthy! 

Thus far, I have yielded eight big tomatoes. I am quite happy with it ^_^

Harvests... !!!

More harvests...!!!

Check out the water droplets...!

Falling in love with purple Spring

Purple colour reminds me of my very best friend back in uni time...
She likes purple and I didn't think purple can be this charming until I get this old...
I think I am falling in love with purple Spring...

Have fun growing!

So did you guess what is it?
Yes... we are growing our own lettuces at the patio!
This type of lettuce is called mixed salad leaves.



We enjoy leafy salad every night so one day Alex suggested to grow it ourselves.
And Spring just fits in perfectly in time to grow lettuces in the garden.

A wild horse!

Recently there is a horse around the neighbourhood.

It looks to me that she belongs to somebody judging from her solid body and smooth shiny coat.

She seems unafraid of strangers and poops everywhere like nobody's business.

In spite of that, I like her very much.

Sometimes I would even deliberately jog past the hillside to check out on her.

When Alex drove past one day, he beeped at her.

She looked up nervously and that's when I snapped her picture from a distance.

Baby Plant

Following on from my recent post: A bud

Our baby plant is doing very well and starting to take shape now.

You should be able to figure out now what kind of vegetable are we planting... emmm...... no??

Yellow Leaf Trees

On the main road not far from where we live, there is a stretch of yellow leaf trees.

The colour of the tree leaves changes when Spring arrives.

The fall colour tree leaves had never failed to catch our attention each time we drove past them.



Isn't that pretty? ^__^

A bud!

When Spring arrives, we like to grow plants at our patio.

Mostly vegetables because I can't get my head around with growing anything more sophisticated than that. Like roses and orchids?

About a week ago we went to get some good quality soil and seeds.

Then we began to grow our vegetables.

Look what we have got now?

A bud that popped out eagerly to say hello to us! How cute!

Can you guess what is this vegetable that we are growing?

Spring is here!

One great thing about living in Australia is to be able to enjoy the greenery, the fresh air and the beautiful flowers.

Spring is finally here... ^__^

Have I told you how much I love Spring?
While the rest of the world is in a rush to get ahead, I am in a relaxing mode walking around the neighbourhood, breathing in the clean air, admiring the blossoms and snapping pictures as I go along.

Tomorrow I feel like going for another walk again... !